Notes:

I live for Bob being AndrAIa's father figure, because lets be honest, I know there were those Imax films (I haven't watched them just read wiki articles on them) that show AndrAIa had an apartment as a child but who in their right mind would put a kid alone in an apartment? What, you think she can afford rent and groceries at like 10?

Not only that, they had no idea who she was and what kind of threat she was so no doubt she was being watched by someone (and again, she was a kid.) until she was deemed safe to be around. I thought about Dot initially but I feel like she would not trust AndrAIa, this random kid who just attached her icon to her brothers, left her game and said "Lmao I am now your problem." So Bob took her in for what was supposed to be a temporary situation but she ended up staying with him up until the Web War incident.

Chapter Text

It's been a long time since they've been like this, though it feels just like yesterday for Bob. Applying wet towelettes to her face to stop the bleeding, he looks down at her and all he can see is the little girl with big eyes sobbing in his arms, covered in blood after getting into her first fight in the school yard.

"They said I am dangerous and can't be trusted! That I'm going to delete everyone!" she had sniveled. That had broken him because it was his fault even though he couldn't have possibly predicted that she would arrive in Mainframe right after the seminar.

"It's fine, don't you worry. You don't need them, you have Enzo!" he had tried to say in an attempt to placate the girl but that only made her cry harder, to his panicked confusion.

He's brought back to the present by a soft call of his name. By now, the bleeding has stopped and AndrAIa has pulled away, eyes looking away and hands in her lap. He eyes the area above her ears where her nails had found purchase. She won't need stitches but it might scar. If she cared, she didn't show it. Instead she leans back against the couch she had been led to, closing her eyes.

They stay that way for a few minutes in silence, AndrAIa with her eyes closed, lids occasionally twitching and Bob looking at her silently.

Finally he can't take the quiet and needs to say something. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Stop." she hisses, not bothering to open her eyes and look at him. Bob freezes, unsure how to proceed.

"I'm just sitting here." he protests. Her eyes snap open to fixate him with a piercing stare.

"You know what I'm talking about. Stop babying me."

Bob swallowed hard, meeting her piercing gaze. "I'm not trying to baby you, AndrAIa. I'm just worried about you. What happened back there?"

She let out a heavy sigh, gaze softening ever so slightly. "You know what happened. I lost control. Again." Her claws flexed involuntarily as she spoke. "I can't keep doing this, Bob. I feel like I'm barely hanging on most days."

There is a moment of silence as the Guardian tries to carefully craft his words.

"I'm not talking about you getting into your own head again, Andi which is what I assumed happened, and you know it. I'm talking about what Mouse said happened between you and Megabyte."

AndrAIa's jaw tightened visibly at the mention of Megabyte's name. She averted her gaze, staring down at her hands clenched in her lap.

"I don't want to talk about that," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's in the past. I just want to move on."

"I know you do, but I'm worried about you. AndrAIa, this is not like you. I know you like to keep your secrets but you need to tell us so we, no, I can help you."

"You can't." she said simply, looking away and trying to stop the tremor in her voice. It didn't happen, it wasn't real.

"How do you know?"

"I just do!" she snapped, standing up abruptly from the couch.

"AndrAI-" he began. "Just leave me alone!" she screamed, interrupting him. They locked eyes for a moment before he slowly rose from his kneeling position and dusted off his uniform, turning towards the doorway out of the living quarters.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push; you should sleep, you look tired." She doesn't watch him leave, instead she moves slowly from the couch to one of the many adjacent rooms that comprise the living quarters. She passes into a small room no bigger than her studio bathroom and collapses onto the military cot that takes up the majority of the room.

Eyes closed tightly, she fumbles for a moment, to find the lumpy pillow on the bed and drag it to her face, hoping to muffle out the sounds of her cries.

"It didn't happen, it's not real…"

She doesn't sleep that night but she doesn't let the exhaustion over take her. She pushes it down like everything else about herself she has pushed down and prepares for the new day.

Or at least she is trying.

She is in the bathroom of the living quarters, sitting on the floor of the shower, just letting the water hit her back and soak her skin. It feels good. She flexes her toes and takes note of the way the webbing between her toes seems to be growing back.

She will need to cut it again soon. She lays her head on her knees and breathes in the smell of the soap clinging to her skin; a florally scent that vaguely reminded her of home, before pulling her head up and squaring her shoulders.

Okay.

She could do this.

This is what she was good at. It was something she did all the time.

What was the harm in one more little white lie?

When everything about her was a lie?

No one had to know.

After all, this was just a small problem, she could fix this. All she had to do was lie to herself her friends.

Like loving Enzo.

It would be fine, and in a few cycles time, she was sure she would be able to convince herself it was all just a bad dream.

She took a breathe and then rose from the shower floor, reluctant to leave it but needing to. Stepping out of the shower, and looking into the mirror, she can't help but note the bags under her eyes.

"Just one lie." she whispered

"And then a thousand more."

She takes her time dressing; usually she would go for her usual attire of skin tight scaled pants with a matching bralette and heeled hide boots but she feels small and exposed today.

She taps her icon, cycling through her options. A pair of pajamas, a sundress, a track suit, and…she pauses on an outfit, studying it in the mirror. The outfit is not much different than her usual outfit but it had a, what Enzo once described as, "Prissy" feel to it.

It had a similar pair of pants to her main outfit but over top there was a translucent skirt with ruffles. The bralette while still short, had a high neck with long bell sleeves decorated with all sorts of flowers and seashells. And instead of heeled boots, there were just a pair of sandals.

She wonders briefly why she doesn't wear it before moving on to the next outfit.

Because Enzo doesn't like it.

She eventually gives up and chooses to wear her regular attire with a hoodie thrown over. She still feels small and exposed but it will have to do.

Plastering a smile onto her face, she attempts to emulate the calm and collected demeanor she has perfected over the years.

She falters for a moment before remembering her mantra.

'Conceal, don't feel. Hide everything about yourself that makes you different.'

She murmurs it under her breath over and over until it is fact, and not just a lie. The weird girl with a troubled past dies away and is replaced by the calm, sexy woman she pretends to be.

'Show time.'

After having Herr Doktor conduct a wide variety of tests, it quickly became clear that nothing out of the normal could be found. That left the virus scowling and temperamental as he destroyed various bits of furniture and items in anger, before eventually retreating to the temporary quarters set up for him.

Temporarily being that he expected the finest things out of life which is why more adequate accommodations were currently being constructed by his men. In the mean time, he had to make due and his head was muddled by thoughts and a growing weariness.

Despite what some people thought, he did in fact need to sleep. He was aware of the various tabloid news articles that would occasionally appear, speculating on the most inane of things about his life and bodily functions.

'Megabyte spotted drinking Wine? Does the Virus need to urinate?'

And even though he had threatened to and had blown up a good portion of said tabloids, they would still be written. He was fairly certain the TV was behind it.

Still, He was not exempt from nature's call, though he could usually push himself longer than a sprite or binome.

And yet, he could not sleep, as he tossed and turned. At first he thought it was maybe because the quarters weren't to his standard, calling for his men to replace the sheets and blankets with higher quality items but it quickly became apparent what the issue was.

Her.

Every time he closed his eyes or allowed his mind to grow silent, some thought revolving around her would pop into his head, causing him to hiss and attempt to push the thoughts out to no avail.

"I wonder what she's doing right now."

"She should wear her hair up, it's a shame to hide such a pretty neck."

By three in the morning, he had given up and had stalked out of his quarters and woken Herr Doktor to make him a cup of tea, before settling into the large armchair that had been dragged out of Phongs former quarters and into his.

Clawed fingers around the mug, he scowled as he sipped slowly from the warm liquid. Usually it would help calm him on nights like this (not from AndrAIa, when he would agonize over another plan thwarted by Bob or Miss Matrix managing to out maneuver him in the stock market.)

He closed his eyes and immediately regretted it when an image of her beautiful tanned skin and vibrant blue hair entered his mind. Oh, the way her hair framed her face...it was maddening.

He growled and took another sip of the tea, wincing slightly as he noted the bitterness for the first time. Herr Doktor really needed to work on his brewing skills. But the taste was a welcome distraction from the thoughts plaguing him.

'What was she doing? Was she thinking of him too?'

That was a thought that kept plaguing him the most; what was she doing right this nanosecond? It was like an itch that got worse every microminute that passed.

She had wormed her way under his code, and he felt an almost primal need to know her every move.

He set the mug down with a frustrated sigh, claws tapping against the ceramic. He needed to regain control, to focus on his plans for Mainframe. There was too much at stake to be distracted by a - by a sprite.

A very pretty sprite.

He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in hopes it would help. It didn't. A thought occurred to him, pooling under his metal skin and making him both elated yet somehow dirty.

He had no doubt the group had regrouped at the backup base, so to speak, constructed after his forced departure from Mainframe. He knew from listening to Ms. Matrix prattle during a breakfast at her apartment, about honestly the most boring of things (Did she have any interests outside of being a command dot com and business owner? Even for someone like himself, programmed for wealth and domination, he had other hobbies beyond being a virus. It wouldn't hurt her to pick up a hobby, even knitting. It would make her more interesting to be around.) that it had a state of the art security system.

A security system he could probably tap into given he had control of the system, provided Mouse hadn't taken the cameras offline.

Maybe he could just take a peek? Perhaps it would let him sleep if he could see her.

Quickly, Megabyte set to work, swiping his hand across the air to open a vid window and quickly tapped into the P.O.s resources so he could start the process of digging into the security cameras.

It was no easy task, as he quickly noted Mouse was smart enough to block access to most of the cameras. But the Principal's Office was the heart of the city. It could override and control any security feed it wanted, even that of private citizens. So their little base was no match.

After what felt like cycles, he finally managed to gain access, the feed flickering to life on the screen before him.

Most of the cameras he realized had been physical disabled (e.i, likely broken or forcefully removed) as an added precaution but it looked like there were a few forgotten about or maybe just hidden enough that no one noticed them.

Where was she?

He tapped his fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair, cycling through feeds before spotting her. He was surprised there were cameras in what looked to be living quarters (Either someone was a sexual deviant or they were paranoid to think it was necessary.)

Though there was no audio, he could tell from the way her face was planted in a pillow, and how her body shook as she curled up on the cot, that she was likely crying.

Megabyte's clawed fingers tightened around the arms of the chair as he watched her. Something flared in his chest, that feeling from before rearing it's head. He didn't like this, seeing her cry.

He leaned forward, gaze sullen as he watched her curl tighter around the lumpy pillow, as if trying to disappear into it. His whole being itched with need to reach through the feed and to comfort her.

Mood worse than before, he turned the feed off quickly as it came on and leaned back in the chair, trying to forget.

"Maybe I should call her…" he muttered. Immediately he snarled and got to his feet, leaving the quarters once more to bother a tired Herr Doktor who had just gotten back to sleep.

"Wake up! I need more tests ran at once! And this time, you better find something. Or else."

The doctor could only sigh and give as much of an enthusiastic Ja, Mein Herr" as he could right now. This was going to be a long day, he could already tell.

—

It was a perfect lie, so easy. And yet, this one burned more than the rest.

"So let me get this straight, this blue light you made, it was a response from your body from Megabyte trying to infect you?"

"Yes, my body detected the infection and put up a barrier as a way to protect me."

"But part of it broke off from you and went into him."

"That was a command from my body to convince him, albeit temporarily, to release me."

She can see from the corner of her eyes the look Mouse and Bob are exchanging, but she doesn't care. She knows they won't buy it, at least initially.

She just needs Enzo to so he will back off and give her time to convince herself and by extension, the others of the lie.

She just needs to play the part.

"Uh huh." said Mouse, looking her up and down with scrutiny. 'Back off Mouse, stop prying.' she thinks.

Matrix looks at her skeptically, brow furrowed and reaches out to take her hand in his. She hates how it feels. "I don't know, Andi. That sounds pretty far-fetched. Are you sure that's what happened?"

AndrAIa keeps her gaze steady, nodding firmly. "Ha, yup. I'm pretty sure I know my own body and how it works more than you." the words come out sarcastic, and bitter, causing the group to pause and look at her with wide eyes, not used to her snark. She swallows the lump and plasters another fake smile on her lips.

"Don't worry, I'm good. I'm good."

Dot is the first one to say something.

"Well, you seem fine now so I have to believe you. Besides, our priority right now is getting our people out and away from Megabyte. We can't afford any distractions."

The others exchange a look but they seemed to have accepted what she said to be true, at least for now. She knows Bob or Mouse will try to prod her more but that's fine. Lying is what she is good at, it was fInE.

"But, I think she realized, her web was starting coming undone."